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there is slight delay when switching the light off. Is it there because of ramp down UI (click, click&hold)? Is it waiting second click&hold? The delay is a bit too long for my liking.

The delay is because it’s waiting to see if you’re going to click again for a double/triple click. The timing of that can be changed by re-defining RELEASE_TIMEOUT. The default value is 24 frames.

The delay can also be eliminated entirely by mapping the “off” action to EV_click1_release instead of EV_click1_complete (a.k.a. EV_1click), but this will interfere with detecting double clicks. So you’d need to have a “turn emitters off” action on button release, followed by a “go to ‘off’ state” action after the timeout happens. This should be safe, but has the side effect of making it briefly blink off after the first click, even when “off” isn’t the action you were intending.

oto wrote:

Now I am waiting impatiently for candle mode. Googling for “led candle flicker algorithm” shows up some interesting results.

I’m not completely happy with candle mode yet, but here’s an example graph of its output:

Mostly, it seems a bit too spastic when used at low levels, and perhaps a bit too spastic overall. It’s like a candle in a breezy environment. Perhaps I should change it from free-running waves to fading waves triggered by random disturbances. Or maybe just decrease the amplitude on the mid-frequency oscillator. Or maybe make the mid oscillator fade and refresh at random. It’ll take some experimenting. It already does a random sample-and-hold modulation on the mid oscillator frequency, which helps, but it feels like it needs further adjustments.

I added it as a “TODO” note in the code, but I don’t have any plans to add it in upcoming production lights. I suspect that my rainbow saber thing may be more relevant for light painting anyway, since it’s specifically designed to make pretty patterns in the air while swinging a lighted sword. It does whatever patterns the user tells it to, and has a full color palette to work with. This includes a momentary “overdrive” function, which could potentially be configured in a manner similar to what he might want.

…

Hmm, I just tried it by turning the brightness down all the way on a police flasher mode, hoping that it’d become momentary-only so it only lights up in overdrive. However, the brightness mod is additive instead of subtractive, so it still flashes while idle — just not as bright. Overdrive works fine, but the non-overdrive isn’t dark like I had hoped. This could be fixed by making it subtractive, but I’m not sure if that’d be a good idea outside of this momentary thing.

No, I don’t think it’s quite ready for stable release yet. This is all still alpha or beta code. It’s not even merged into trunk yet.

dekozn wrote:

TA FET+1+16 (or 8AMCs) driver? I want to order 2 drivers from lexel and would like em to be flashed with anduril, Lexel can flash them for me with any kind of firmware but he needs/wants the hex file as he “can’t calibrate Anduril like he’s used to in Narsil”.
I myself have no clue what a HEX file is used for or if there is any difference between the hex file for a FET+1+8 and a FET+1+16 driver

In general, the ramp (including moon level and ramp shape) needs to be calibrated for each combination of driver type and emitter configuration. A FET+7+1 and FET+16+1 have different ramp shapes, a single XP-G2 and a quad XP-L have different ramp shapes, a raptor-claw and failboat 7135 chip have different moon levels, a 1-channel/2-channel/3-channel driver all have different configurations, an old XM-L and new XM-L2 have different moon levels, a 1-cell (or parallel cell) host and 2/3/4-cell serial host have massively different ramp values (and need different methods of measuring voltage), hosts with/without indicator LED need different configs, hosts with/without a tail clicky need different configs, etc. The full set of configurations grows exponentially with each option.

There is the approach of trying to build a .hex file for every possible config, and hosting dozens or hundreds or thousands of them in the repository, but this means an awful lot of completely untested builds and it’s expensive in terms of repository size. It’s mostly just useful as a brute-force way to test builds to make sure each configuration can at least compile. I don’t think I’ll be hosting all those .hex files though.

My preferred solution is to provide sources only, plus a very small number of stable and well-tested .hex files targeted to very specific and popular hardware — like one for the D4, one for the Q8, and one for the FW3A. For hardware produced in smaller quantities, it’s someone else’s job to build and test.

I’m a bit late here, but I’d like to add my two cents. First of all, you’re 100% correct that it’s impossible to create, test, and host dozens of *.hex files for every hardware configuration out there. However, I do think there is good demand for an alternative to NarsilM on TA drivers. Perhaps we could talk you in to creating one “master” triple-channel *.c file, a la Bistro Tripledown? You’ve made it easy enough for all of us to utilize your /bin/ files for things like ramping table calculation, etc. I’m proficient enough in C and Python to write basic programs and edit your (very well-commented) code, but I have no clue where to start when it comes to adding a third power channel.

At the moment, the moon-in-lockout checks the floor for both ramps and uses whichever is lower. This makes the behavior consistent regardless of which ramp is active, but it can also make moon too low sometimes. Do people think it should instead use the current ramp floor instead of checking both? This would effectively give it the ability to change the lockout brightness by switching between ramps, perhaps with a day mode and a night mode, but it might also lead to surprises if the user forgets which ramp is active.

Muggle mode is implemented but not published yet. There hasn’t been much consensus about how that should look, so for now it’s a simple latching on/off at 1×7135 (~150 lm) with no bells or whistles. I haven’t even made it dim for LVP yet, though I probably should. For now, it just turns off.

Siruis9, that should be fairly easy but it’ll need to use something smaller as a code base. The FSM library doesn’t fit onto attiny13 like the nanjg driver uses. I’d suggest using STAR_momentary or Ferrero Rocher as a base, and basically just stripping out features until it’s a one-mode momentary interface.

Oh, the GT will require some additional changes in order to work. Its power circuit functions somewhat differently than the Q8. I’m hoping to get a GT and port FSM to it, but I have no idea when that will happen.

That’s the first time I’ve ever modded a flashlight, so thanks ToyKeeper both for writing the firmware and introducing me to this exciting world.

I’m keen to tweak the C and have a go at implementing some new modes. I’ve that I’m not an expert at soldering though and wouldn’t be surprised if I damaged the D4 if I tried doing it again.

Did I read somewhere that the Q8 can be flashed without needing to solder anything? That might be a good enough reason to get one if so.

Also, is there a definitive list of lights that work with Anduril? I’m assuming anything with an e-switch and an attiny85 would work but it’s often hard to find out what chip a light has. Are there any C8 style lights that might work with it or is the D1s the closest thing?

That’s the first time I’ve ever modded a flashlight, so thanks ToyKeeper both for writing the firmware and introducing me to this exciting world.

Congratulations! TK and Andúril got me into reflashing too!

dave1010 wrote:

Did I read somewhere that the Q8 can be flashed without needing to solder anything? That might be a good enough reason to get one if so.

My first-run and second-run Q8s both have wires long enough to flip the driver over without desoldering anything. It’s an awesome light, too!

I’m not sure if the current Q8s allow this. Perhaps someone with a recent sample can chime in.

dave1010 wrote:

Also, is there a definitive list of lights that work with Anduril?

In addition to the Q8s, I have Andúril running on my Emisar D4, D1, and D1S. I also have it on a modded EagleEye X6R with a Texas_Ace driver from Lexel. The X6R’s design takes advantage of Andúril’s dual-switch option, which works great.

My first-run and second-run Q8s both have wires long enough to flip the driver over without desoldering anything. It’s an awesome light, too!

I’m not sure if the current Q8s allow this. Perhaps someone with a recent sample can chime in.

Thanks. I guess if longer wires can fit then you could always do a one-off resolder for longer wires if needed. I’d give that a go on my D4 but I doubt there’s space and there’s a good chance I’d damage the driver.

goshdogit wrote:

In addition to the Q8s, I have Andúril running on my Emisar D4, D1, and D1S. I also have it on a modded EagleEye X6R with a Texas_Ace driver from Lexel. The X6R’s design takes advantage of Andúril’s dual-switch option, which works great.

The X6R looks nice. With the cost of getting a new driver for it the D1S looks quite reasonable though.

So far, only a single e-switch is supported… with the option of also using a power switch to make it do momentary-style use in the regular output mode (no need for a separate momentary mode). Without an e-switch it won’t do much.

Two different lockout moons is easy to do; it mostly just depends on whether people think it’s better.

Adjustable party strobe brightness is a little tricky. The pulses are generally only ~4 PWM cycles long. It turns on for 4*512 clock cycles, then turns off. If the brightness is adjustable, it’ll actually pulse 4 times per strobe instead of once. That’s not ideal. Of course, the method I’m using for short strobe pulses already isn’t ideal. I’ve been meaning to make it control the power chips in more of a raw mode, on for N clock cycles instead of N/512 PWM cycles, but that adds code complications because it bypasses the abstraction used to control output brightness. So it locks brightness to a sweet spot on the ramp where PWM is steady, and sometimes stays lit for 4 cycles or sometimes for 5, depending on random factors.

Anyway, um, kind of a long tangent, but party strobe has some known limitations which aren’t trivial to fix.

Making the sunset mode adjustable, and adding sunrise mode, seems like a better thing to prioritize.

I’m considering getting a D1S or Q8 though, as the D4 is currently my farthest thrower.

Both are good, depending on what you need. One of the main things is to match the beam type to what you’re doing.
From floodiest to throwiest:

D4: ~4 cd / lm

Q8: ~12 cd / lm (?)

D1: ~30 cd / lm

D1S: ~100 cd / lm

For biking I use a very floody light like the D4, and I find the D1 is usually throwy enough for my needs when I need to see farther. The D1S and Q8 are also very good at what they do, but I don’t use them as much because of the size.

Then again, size isn’t always a deal-breaker. I might have a BLF GT on the way (~500 cd / lm), which totally dwarfs all these other lights. It won’t exactly be an EDC, but I’ll make excuses to use it… because that’s just the kind of item it is.

FWIW, I pushed a bunch of changes to FSM / Anduril. A lot of things should be nicer now, but there’s one specific thing I haven’t tested yet and don’t trust. On a hotrod like a D4-219c, I don’t think it’ll regulate down fast enough on full turbo. However, it did pretty well on my FW3A at the highest regulated level, 8×7135. I need to do more testing and tweaking to make sure it won’t burn people with a quad 219c though.

FSM dev branch, getting closer to stable so maybe I can merge it into trunk soon.

Changes:

Made eeprom writes somewhat more atomic, less likely to do weird things if power is interrupted mid-write.

Added candle mode, next to lightning mode. Is particularly nice in the bathtub.

Added FW3A support.

Made lockout moon level use current ramp config instead of whichever ramp is lower.

Completely reworked button debouncing so it’ll be okay even on a really noisy switch.

Fixed LVP / thermal issues (ADC was triggering 4000X / second instead of the expected 4X, which made things weird).

Thermal regulation changes…

Instead of ~85 steps, it now uses 256 or 512 (for a 2- or 3-channel driver). This makes adjustments invisible by eye, but they still show up on a lux meter. Try zak.wilson’s ceilingbounce app if you want to measure it.

Won’t adjust below 1×7135 level any more.

Adjustment speed changes with how far it needs to go.

Added the ability to calibrate the thermal sensor, to reduce issues from the attiny’s per-unit variation.

… and I updated the UI diagram a bit:

The thermal config generally involves a lot of clicks… sorry. Hopefully it only needs to happen one time though, to calibrate the sensor.

I had that same “region ‘text’ …” error when trying to compile Narsil a few months ago. If I recall, changing the configuration from “debug” to “release” solved the problem. Must be some strange accidental modification in the config manager. Perhaps debug isn’t using any optimization?

FWIW, I’m also having trouble building Anduril in Atmel Studio 7. I might be overlooking something obvious, but I have all of the dependencies in place, and the only change I made for this first test was a #define for the hardware type.